Crime & Justice

Officer says man confessed to deadly Venice crash

File: Pedestrians gather as police and fire officials respond after a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles on Aug. 3, 2013. At least a dozen people were injured, two of them critically, according to police.
Maarten Smitskamp/AP

AP|November 20, 2013

A police officer says a driver charged with intentionally mowing down people on a Southern California boardwalk confessed only hours after killing a tourist.

The Los Angeles Times reports a Santa Monica policeman took the stand Wednesday at a preliminary hearing for Nathan Campbell. Officer0 Brent Wilkening says Campbell walked into a police station on Aug. 3 and said: "I'm the one you're looking for. I hit all those people."

Campbell is charged with speeding onto the boardwalk in neighboring Venice, killing an Italian woman on her honeymoon and injuring 16 others. Witnesses have said the driver aimed at people but Campbell has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer says it was an accident.

A judge will decide whether he should stand trial for murder and other crimes.